#Just bcs I mentioned Layla and her treatment

[randomnameless]

And it was a disappointment :(

Idk how to call this ending, a golden route or a fanservice ending?

The way the game rushed to "we must erase hyzante" was hilariously bad, even if Serenor's reflexion time was kind of funny.

"We will ask Gustadolf to give us the giant cannon to destroy the goddess's shield"

Ask Gustadolf?? Seriously? Even if Svarog was here to back up Serenor's position, was he really thinking it was possible to get a deal with the man known as an oathbreaker, without rekting him??

"But Roland might not agree"

No way Jan, Gustadolf killed his father, brother, raped his sister and slaughtered the people he swore to protect, on top of killing his father figure and starting that damn war - if not for Roland having 0 ego and being willing to literally sacrifice himself for the sake of the world, I don't know how that plan could have worked...

Oh wait, it didn't, and Gustadolf refused to lend - omg who could have guessed it - the canon to break hyzante's walls because he wants to rule norzelia. So Roland still had to fight him, Svarog joined and -

It's completely ridiculous how this scene is framed in this path, and in the Roland path. Here, apparently Aefrost loldiers have a moment of self reflection when Sycras does and when they listen to Roland (and imo Svarog!) words about making a better Norzelia and the war being nonsense, and they start to worry about participating in an "illegitimate" war or something -

Like dude, even if it was "legitimate", you still slaughtered civilians, invaded and destroyed a country and its loldiers who were planning a wedding - but now you wonder about your morals???

But when Roland knocks at the door with Hyzante's forces and Serenor, saying the same thing and saying how people will be spared, suddenly Sycras has his very tearful goodbye scene with his fam, soldiers and civilians shout "Aesfrost" and are willing to fight until the end, fueled by Gustadolf's propaganda and even follow Svarog in his delirium when he decides to destroy his own city and citizens under tons of molten lava??

Aesfrost suddenly reconsiders and isn't 2000% supporting their charismatic leader?? At least if it was more played about Svarog and people loyal to him and Dragan instead of randomly popping up Sycras, who also discovers suddenly that lies really bother him to the point of challenging his leader, too bad for Rudolph Sycras's morals weren't coded then, with his supposed death scene and then moving on to random 34 and random 55 being worried about their war based on a lie.

As for Benedict's side... Oh well.

I can't say Ayxame was retconned when the Hyzantese characters never received any spotlight, but Ayxame comes from a seemingly sympathetic (?) character, who also came to understand the rock salt secret and wasn't an asshat to Rozellians and who wanted to change Hyzante, into an egoistic piece of shit, who's ready to let the world burn if it means being the one on top because he's that ambitious.

What a disappointment for what could have been the Svarog-like ally but coming from hyzante.

Instead we have Layla, who was complicit in Idore's schemes because he forced her uwu (this reminds me of something) and she only wanted to see her son again, but feels like she did so much wrong that she doesn't want to live anymore. Wow. What a mess of a cool character, at least from the one we saw in the first chapters, reducing her to "woman go did much wrong because man forced her by threatening her child or something and she feels so remorseful that she wants to die".

Also the game keeps on mentioning her medicine skills and researches and how it could help people - but it is not mentionned that her "study of life" and researches use(d) Rozellians to work. Again, what little earl grey that could have went to hyzante was just, never explored - what if Layla's super medicine needs Rozellian parts (or any human's parts) to function, basically being a sacrifice switch (I'll use the life of that dude to cure another dude?).

Layla and Ayxame were disappointments and Kamsell?

The party never even tried to explain him - like Roland tried to with Gustadolf and the Aefrost loldiers - what they were trying to do, just give the dude a fragment of the salt pillar, just to taste, like they did for Ayxame, his faith would be shaken and maybe Idore would have Enigma'd him ; nah, Kamsell is here to stop a rebellion and to maintain order, and dies without even knowing why the Wolfforts are ruining Hyzante, or even giving him a chance to react and maybe join them. Hyzante bad after all.

(save for Layla, she's a mom, remember?)

Hopefully we have a tidbit of Frederica self reflecting, saying Idore and Hyzante's Goddess lied to the Rozellians, but also to the people of Hyzante themselves (she returns to the characters who empathised and tries to save everyone!) - even if it doesn't work, because Hyzante and the cult of the goddess existed before Idore, so while the guy is your jrpg villain, his nation was already based on shaky foundations - that needed Rozellians to be scapegoats/sacrifices to survive.

And unlike the Aesfrost from Roland's path - Hyzante is in shambles after the destruction of their wall and the revelation that the cult of the goddess was nonsense -

But don't worry, the game said Layla managed to save what could be saved and have the people work together, how? I don't know.

At least Svarog "arresting" and managing to strike a deal with Gustadolf's loyalists (he had sycophants?) felt more reasonable than Layla, but then, everything looks better when it's compared to Hyzante - especially the writing.

Come Idore and the final jrpg fight - poor guy can't know that Serenor resetted, in the ideal pt, 3 times before coming up with this solution - and, well, again, I expected more from the gzlr that really managed to tackle politics like no other, afaik, rpg did.

When Idore mentioned how the people would be happy under a puppet, Roland could have drawn a parallel with what his father was and what Patriatte wanted him to be, or even Benedict because this scenario is the endgame of his route!

But no we get the traditional jrpg dialogue.

The ending is ripe for nonsense, are we supposed everything is well that ends well? Roland wants an unified Norzelia, not through annexion but a slow and continuous process coming from the people...

And yet the fact is that he and Serenor still work together, so the main issue remains, why should people listen to king Roland and not to Serenor?

And big lol at the balance and the "a good leader leads his people to make the best choices" or something they had, Serenor imposes his plan - of course everyone agrees - but by doing so he is the de facto leader of our group... When he's supposed to be Roland's vassal, and Frederica's husband - he's not their lord, so why should he get to decide?

The last dialogue with the Regna bros made me pause a bit, Roland's praise "wow you should be the king because a good king leads his people to a better tomorrow when I would have abandoned this duty" felt a bit too much, and again, I can't help but remember the Benedict ending and ultimately Patriatte's biggest fear - Glenbrook won't be able to remain stable and standing if a vassal becomes more powerful/prestigious than his liege.

But hey, let's not talk about how the continent will be at war again in 10 years, let's end the game with the wedding that was announced in chapter 1!

Tbh this is the only thing I liked from this route lol

#triangle strategy spoilers #ts and fe16 comparisons #Just bcs I mentioned Layla and her treatment #TS #Golden route lol #The 3 stay with you but bar that? #It's the 'let's ignore the 3/4th of the game to have a feel good ending' #I'm not kind to Layla but damn it #It's because I'm too disappointed

[buckevantommy]

Sorry do you hate marvel or not? You reblogged a gif set from moon knight, that straight up nonsense show, saying they should give a show to one of the supporting characters? You know if you hate marvel media you can just not watch it right

marvel needs to die a fiery death.

i love stucky but the studio either queerbaited or was clueless or queerphobic plus steve's endgame made no sense. i love rdj's tony stark but he deserved better. they sexualised natasha to the nth degree rather than let scarjo work her drama muscles then killed her off rather than let her retire. moon knight was a mess but it was heartwrenching and different and oscar isaac deserves an award for that portrayal and i have a crush on layla and think may would crush a solo show - an egyptian superhero! (sidenote: i watched hawkeye recently and hated it but the deaf woc who got a redemption arc is getting her own show which is great).

i can care about characters and still hate their treatment - I'm an spn fan, it's second nature for me.

one of the many problems with the mcu is they're churning out multiple shows and movies per year which means they're not giving time to flesh out characters and plots like they deserve to be but it ALSO means a lot of eyes are on them bc when you crank out that much content in this day and age you HAVE to give diverse representation so we're seeing more and more poc characters in shows and on the big screen thanks to the mcu - eternals, shang-chi, moon knight, ms marvel, echo, blue beetle - and yes the mcu's diverse rep is problematic bc they care more about flash than substance and more about algorithms than grounded characterisations but you can't deny that the mcu has helped bring diverse casting into mainstream media. the worst company you know did a good thing, or however the saying goes. think back to the first avenger movies and how whitebred supermodel cishet they were. but thanks to societal influence and the changing of times, it became a necessity to have more poc characters in the mcu. the audience expected it.

however when it comes to queer rep, we've seen a lot more racially and bodily diverse casting and poc characters than we have queer characters. the first onscreen gay kiss took 26 movies and happened in Eternals, and other queer characters have been blink and you'll miss it moments or throwaway lines many viewers don't realise signified queer characters and instead misinterpreted those comments as humour or commentary. we've had a few queer side characters (negasonic x yukio, ayo x aneka, valkyrie, korg) but we're to yet to see a main queer character - and regardless of intention or comic book canon, throwaway lines, possible flirting, and jokes do not qualify as queer rep imho. so loki, deadpool, and tony stark don't count. it has to be explicit and undeniable, not catered to queerphobes so they can easily misinterpret.

but my point is: the mcu is a powerhouse that's been dominating the superhero genre and blockbuster charts for two decades, and from their success they've bet big in planning and putting into production dozens of shows and movies set to be released over the next decade. and that is a terrifying thought. they can't predict the future but they're trying to create content to fit a world that hasn't come into being yet. they're already behind the times on queer rep so i dont have high hopes for whatever they have coming queer-rep wise. but aside from that, their storytelling has become trite and so convoluted that they trade sense for the surprise factor. they're writing characters and plots to fit algorithm parameters like someone trying to say every buzzword in their work presentation. just look at Quantumania: a mess from start to finish in plot, dialogue, characterisations, not to mention stilted acting from a cast forced to act the majority of the film on greenscreen with no physical interactions to ground their performances.

i could go on and on but this post would get long and i'm no expert I'm just your average viewer and tumblr user looking for plots that make sense in stories i want to enjoy because i care about (or want to care about) the characters. if only the mcu cared as much about their characters as they do about big budget seizure inducing interdimensional battle scenes. as for genuine queer rep: maybe in 3 years we'll see a pair of same-sex lips gentle colliding like two pale coconuts. or maybe the mcu will crash and burn (or fizzle out) long before then.

i wanna be done with their stranglehold on the genre since they can't even produce decent shit these days. i want all the strikes going on atm to see creative teams get what they're owed. i want the next dozen mcu productions to flop so they realise they're not hot shit anymore. i want the streamer service upheaval to screw over their longterm plans. i want viewers and bloggers and journalists to call them out for being like the very villains they set up for their heroes to defeat - villains who want to control the cinematic universe, kill off competition, and screw over anyone they consider beneath them.

so yes, i hate the mcu. but there are characters i care about, and plots i wish were done better. but that's why fanfiction exists.

#anti marvel #anti mcu #.​txt #diverse characters #queer characters #representation matters #lgbtqia

[seroqueldreamer]

So recently, I redrew all of my Winx club OCs, A) bc they'd been shitty repaints done in MSpaint and B) I hadn't drawn them before.

So I decided to fuck around and draw them, with an addition. We never see how disabilities and disorders are handled in the universe of Winx. So, I took the time and researched to the best of my ability.

Brittany; Fairy of Lava — Civ. Form.

Brittany is from Domino, which is a completely seperate planet from Sparx where Bloom is queen. One of Brittany's legs is shorter than the other and she wears two different shoes to walk evenly. She also has ADHD! So she bunny hops from interest to interest.

Flor; Fairy of Flowers — Civ. Form.

Flor was born without her left hand and comes from a low-income family on Linphea, so they made the best with what was available, and Flor has learned to adapt, as magic and other things such as potion making, transfiguration, transmogrification, etc., are typically shown as needing both hands. Flor adapts to this, using her prosthetic as a conduit. I'm looking at this now and realizing my proportions are a bit off.

Taiana; Fairy of Numbers — Civ. Form

Taiana has Gastroparesis and requires and NGT or Nasal-Gastric Tube. Her stomach is paralyzed and she cannot eat a lot of food and makes due with an NGT. Taiana hails from Zenith and I'd imagine while the society is based in logic like the Vulcans from Star Trek, they still hold emotions, albeit at a much more neutral threshold. Taiana has been having a lot of different issues and it seems as though her treatments aren't working, so her parents are very frustrated and often Tecna must advocate for her student to continue receiving medical treatment that is in fact working, as she's receiving nutrients.

Melody; Fairy of Opera — Civ. Form

Melody has JLNS, which is a congenital heart condition that causes deafness. On top of this, she is blind, making her deaf blind. She wears sensor on her neck that vibrates when she's too close to something and risks bumping into it. She's not completely blind and has very, very limited vision even with the glasses. She's also one of the first new fairies to be born in Tir na nÓg. She's the youngest of her group of friends, but brilliant and uses a mix of BSL and Common Sign Language. I say BSL due to Tir na nÓg stemming from Celtic Mythos.

Alia; Fairy of Water — Civ. Form

Alia has hEDS and MFS — Hypermobile Ehler Danlos Syndrome and Marfans Syndrome. She is the daughter of Layla and Nabu, because I will forever maintain Nabu didn't die, he's just fucking comatose. On top of this, she's got Poliosis and Vitiligo. Neither from what I came across are super serious and is usually a lack of melanin creating the white spots. Due to her Marfans, she's under gone a few open heart surgeries to make sure her heart is able to produce enough blood, but she can't be as active as her mom, and it makes her feel inadequate, like she's not making her moms expectations.

Haley; Fairy of the 4 winds — Civ. Form

Haley has ASD, and is nonverbal. She uses synthetic tech magic to communicate, and her special interest are trolls. She finds them absolutely wonderful. Knut certainly doesn't complain and treats her well, usually answering all of her questions. Haley and her twin, Hawth are illegitimate heirs to the thrones of Solaria and Erakylon. Sky loves his daughters as does Stella, but due to their statuses in the eyes of Solarian and Erakylonion laws, they aren't supposed to receive any title, assistance, or recognition. Bloom typically helps, especially after Brandon was sent to the Omega dimension on... Permanent sentry duty. Haley is the illegitimate princess to Solaria.

Hawth; Fairy of Reality — Civ. Form.

Hawth, as previously mentioned, is the illegitimate heir to Eraklyon. Hawth also has DID, and I have done EXTENSIVE research into DID, as it's often highly misrepresented, I also have a friend who is a system and I did ask a bit about their experience and how to best portray it. So I hope it comes through in the next bit. Also before I begin, every system is different and Hawth's system is no different. As a singlet, I have no weight in any ongoing arguments surrounding discourse on DID. That out of the way, moving on.

Hawth and Haley are by-products of a... Scandal between Sky and Stella, thusly ending the ties between Solaria, Sparx, and Eraklyon. Hawth, specifically, was constantly terrorized by Brandon for years until the divorces were finalized between Stella and Brandon, and Bloom and Sky. Bloom loves the twins as though they're her own, but Brandon hates both of the twins. He's always bitter and rude, as they symbolize the betrayal of Stella and his best friend. Bloom is pissed with Stella and Sky, but also with Brandon. Sky adores his daughters with everything in his being and tries to be there for Hawth and their system when they're having PTSD attacks, but it's certainly hard because they don't like Sky. Or Stella. They blame both of them for what Brandon did to them. I wanted their power to feel like an extension of their D.I.D but not as a way to change or manipulate the outcomes of the past, but rather to manipulate space-time, because I was thinking of how my friend said D.I.D tries to continue to hide its existence, and I'd think Hawth would use their powers to hide any instance of their dis(order/ability) and appear as a neurotypical person, to not raise any alarms, while playing the role of caring older sibling to Haley, and masking almost 24/7, and their power helps with that, while as a consequence creating lapses in time and people's memories, to distort the fact that they're not "normal".

#my art #winx club #starlight OCs #my ocs

[thomaslightwoodenthusiast]

hey you guys, here is a little something i’ve been working on! it’s going to be quite long so apologies, but i am going to eventually post it on wattpad too! enjoy!

(this piece revolves around thomastair, but is NOT thomastair only. they are going to be the main theme, but i don’t like writing pieces only on a ship. also it’s gonna be good anyways bc it has drunk and pining charles at one point)

A NOTE: i realised there is a problem. if i wrote the entire thing in a tumblr post, it will be far too long. but it also isn’t long enough for a work. i have decided i will upload in different parts. please let me know if after reading this you are still interested! if not, that’s fine and i’ll probably post it to wattpad lol. but i haven’t written in a while now and i am scared it’s not as good lol. anyways here u go

enjoy!

desc: in which christopher decides that everyone needs a pick me up after recent events, and concludes that the best way to do so is to hold a talent show at the institute. what could possibly happen?

———————————

Alastair scrunched up yet another ball of paper and threw it atop the ever increasing pile beside his desk. He had been trying for days- no, weeks now, to write a letter to Thomas. Despite feeling that he did the right thing in walking away, he could not scratch the feeling that he had hurt him. He wanted at least to apologise, and to let him know he believed it was the best decision for them both.

But was it? Alastair could not lie to himself. He did not feel as good as he thought he would. I’m doing this for his sake, he thought. He is more important to me than I will ever be to myself.

“So, what do you think?”

Alastair looked up. He’d almost forgotten about the ‘Talent Show’ Christopher Lightwood was arranging at the Institute. He was actually considering turning up to prove the point that he was not going to accept Matthew’s ill treatment of him, but he had little energy and currently could not be bothered to waste time on him. He knew that Cordelia was going. She and Lucie had chosen to audition together. They were going to act out a scene from ‘The Beautiful Cordelia’, with Lucie as Cordelia and his sister as one of her many lovers Lucie provided her with.

She was wearing his clothes.

“I think you look utterly mad. In a pleasant way, of course.” It was true. Cordelia looked amazing in his clothes. Not as good as he did, but a close second.

“Thank you, oh cheerful brother of mine. Are you quite alright? There is a rather large pile of paper beside you. Not to mention you look as if your eyes have cried the tears of the earth’s oceans,” she replied. There was the usual sibling tone of mockery in her voice, but also a tone of genuine concern. Alastair looked at himself in the window and realised Cordelia was right; he must have been crying, though he had no recollection of doing so.

“I am fine. Go and have fun. You deserve to, after this gargantuan mess.”

“Alastair, I am not stupid. I know when you are hurting. And what’s that on your desk?” she asked. Before he could stop her, Cordelia had made her way across the room and grabbed the piece of paper sitting in front of him. Alastair had not realised it, but he had written a few of his earlier thoughts on the page.

Cordelia frowned as she read out loud, “‘He is more important to me than I will ever be to myself.’ Alastair, I swear on all of the angels if this is about Ch-“

“It isn’t! It isn’t. I...well I suppose it’s just thoughts. Feelings.”

Cordelia was not having it. “If it’s not about him, who is it about?”

“Well, if you want a clue, his friend is the reason I cannot be at all bothered to attend tonight.”

Cordelia thought, and there was a long pause. She furrowed her brow. She seemed to be remembering something. “It’s not...is it Thomas?”

Alastair closed his eyes, as if the name pained him. “How did you guess?”

Cordelia had to admit; she wasn’t entirely sure. But a few observations she’d made over the past months had made her think. She remembered the time on the bridge when Thomas refused to show his tattoo- until Alastair had asked to see it. The time at Anna’s, when she had asked everyone what names they would want and Thomas had quietly admitted he would want only one, never saying who.

The time she and her brother had been speaking with Charles, only for her to notice Thomas had been staring at them.

“I don’t know. Sisterly instincts, I suppose. Do you want to tell me about it? Actually, no, hold on. I will not give you the option. You bottle up far too much, Alastair. Please, pray tell me, what this is about?”

Alastair sat for a moment, unsure where to start. “You remember the day, don’t you? When I defended Thomas in the Sanctuary? It starts long before that; but I fear if I tell it all you may miss out on your night. I had said that I followed him because you were fond of him. That was...” He trailed off. The words were not leaving his mouth. Cordelia smiled sympathetically. “It was only part of the truth. I came to find that I myself was indeed...quite fond of him. And I was afraid that if he went out alone with a murderer on the loose, something would happen. I couldn’t bear the thought of it being my fault; I have done enough damage. When I saw him being arrested I panicked and did the only rational thing I could think of.”

Cordelia raised her eyebrow. “Follow him the whole way to the Sanctuary risking getting caught by the Inquisitor, then further increase your risk of getting caught by sneaking into the Institute and hiding until you were needed?”

“What can I say?” her brother replied, seeming distant. “You do...odd things, when you care about someone.”

“Alastair, you risked your own safety doing what you did as well. I do not know what on earth I would do if something had happened to you without my knowledge.”

“My dear Layla. When one’s heart is so encompassed with love for another, rationality is quite frankly defenestrated.”

“What exactly does ‘defenestrated’ mean?”

“Thrown out the window,” Alastair replied, matter-of-factly. Cordelia moved towards the door of his room, realising she had to leave soon. “I only want to ask one more question. Is Thomas aware of your feelings for him?”

Alastair laughed to himself. “Quite. In fact, in the Sanctuary, I discovered that being held in confinement with someone who is as handsome as he is kind can result in interesting outcomes.”

Cordelia mocked a gasp. “Alastair Esfandiyār Carstairs, did you spend that whole night-“

“Ah ah! An honourable man does not kiss and tell.”

Cordelia’s eyes widened. “YOU KI-“

“Fine! Quieten down, lest mother is given a heart attack! Look, what happened is staying between us only. But I can tell you this; we did have a long conversation, in which he told me that he liked men. He also told me how he had figured that out; turns out that it was essentially me. I was quite shocked, because I thought he was referring to our school days when he mentioned feelings for me. I was, however, promptly proven wrong, shall we say.”

Cordelia’s face burst into a grin, before she sensed there was something else to the story. “Wait. What happened? What did you tell him?”

“You must understand, Layla, I really do care for him. But his friends- they hate me. Matthew cannot even be in the same room as me without hurling an insult. I cannot be with him; it is too complicated. I do not want to break that poor boy’s heart again, not after the Academy. I told him what I just told you, though I fear my last statement may have been too late. The letter you have in your hand and the paper you see on the floor are all my attempts at an apology. I just...walked away. Left him there. If only I had the chance to apologise to Matthew, this could have been different. But he will not accept it. He will not stop hounding me with comments, and I feel as though I can never stop being fifteen years old. I know I deserve better, but it can be tiring to fight when all your life you’ve been at war with yourself.”

Cordelia made a decision in that moment. She looked at Alastair and observed the similarities in how he and Thomas had been acting. Thomas looked a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, only to have one twice as heavy dropped on again. Alastair seemed even more quiet than usual. “You are coming with me. I don’t care when you turn up, you are turning up. I will ensure there is a piano nearby so that you can demonstrate your own incredible talent. If Matthew makes a jab at you, I will take care of it. If these rules are not met, you will be cut to pieces with Cortana. See you there,” she said, concluding her speech and leaving. Alastair watched as she left the house. He felt inspired by what she had said. He realised something within himself, too.

I cannot run from my past, but I cannot be forced to stay in it either. I am worth more than that.

And I’ll take any opportunity possible to make sure Matthew knows I refuse to take it anymore.

#shadowhunters #the shadowhunter chronicles #chain of iron #lgbtq #queer #cordelia carstairs #alastair and cordelia #alastair carstairs #the last hours #chain of gold #thomas lightwood #christopher lightwood #james herondale #matthew fairchild #will herondale #lucie herondale #thomastair #alastair x thomas